Did God Use Evolution to Produce Life? Why Theistic Evolution Fails
Some people attempt to reconcile belief in God with the standard evolutionary account of life’s origins by combining the two. Theistic evolution is the view that God used evolutionary mechanisms to create life. But does this view stand up to scrutiny? Today, Dr. Casey Luskin critiques this perspective in the first half of a conversation that originally aired on the Truthful Hope podcast.
The conversation kicks off with some clarity over terms, including what is meant by “evolution.” The theistic evolution perspective, also sometimes called evolutionary creation, accepts the standard scientific evolutionary account—the same view held by atheists—and simply adds the theological claim, “but this is how God did it”. Critically, these proponents reject the idea that design can be empirically or scientifically detected in nature. As Luskin highlights, the central scientific problem with theistic evolution is that it inherits all the numerous scientific problems associated with the standard evolutionary account.
The interview then pivots to explore the most significant of these problems: the origin of life, or chemical evolution. Dr. Luskin outlines several fundamental barriers to explaining how inanimate matter could transition into self-replicating living cells. He argues that the more scientists learn about the complexity of life and conduct origin of life experiments, the further away they get from finding a naturalistic solution. And that’s bad news for those with a theistic evolution perspective.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next! We’re grateful to host Jacob Vasquez for permission to share this conversation on ID The Future.
Dig Deeper
- Want a deep dive into why theistic evolution doesn’t adequately explain the evidence? Get a copy of Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique, co-edited by philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer.
- WATCH: Stephen Meyer critiques theistic evolution in this full presentation from a conference on the topic: